1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of on-board automotive diagnostic systems. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and method for providing mobile automotive telemetry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On-board automotive diagnostic systems with limited capabilities have been available since the late 1980's. Most systems comprise a so-called "On-Board Diagnostic" (OBD) module which is designed to: (i) meet the requirements of environmental legislation aimed at controlling the level of automotive pollutant emissions through effective electronic monitoring; (ii) comply with the Society of Automotive Engineer's (SAE) recommendations aimed at supplementing the emissions related monitoring capability required by legislation; and (iii) to comply with SAE recommendations for the provision of non-emissions related monitoring capabilities in order to improve the technology of vehicle fault diagnosis and servicing.
Conventional OBD modules respond to requests from off-board test equipment provided that these requests are submitted according to the protocols understood by the modules. The test equipment or so-called "scan tools" of service technicians must be physically connected to the vehicle's data bus. The responses of the OBD modules consist of analog or digital data, acquired either in real-time from sensor inputs or from an on-board data cache ("freeze-frame data").
Accordingly, conventional OBD information can only be obtained provided that the following conditions are met: (i) the test equipment incorporates a vehicle-compatible connector and vehicle data bus interface; (ii) the OBD module and the test equipment are physically connected via a cable; and (iii) the test equipment incorporates the software which implements the OBD protocols (i.e. the SAE-specified protocols discussed above).
One other disadvantage of conventional on-board automotive diagnostic systems is that diagnostic information can be obtained from the OBD module only in the form of responses to requests submitted from the test equipment.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate and mitigate at least one of the disadvantages of conventional on-board automotive diagnostic systems.